A New Leaf
by dominic0401
Summary: Kaylen Stormwell is one of the very few people born with an inherent fear of pokémon. Considering that pokémon and humans coexist with each other for the most part, it limits what he can do quite drastically. Especially the prospect of ever being a trainer. So how did he end up as one?
1. Chapter 1

**I** **hope you enjoy this story! Criticism is much appreciated.**

 **I do not own Pokémon though I do own the characters I create.**

"Come on Kaylen, it'll be fun. Me, you, and whatever pokemon we have exploring Kanto. Imagine the sights we'll see, the things we'll do, the intense battles we'll have," my best friend pleaded over my Xtransceiver.

"For the last time the answer is no Andrew, you know how bad my fear of pokemon is," I said exasperated. He'd been trying to convince to join him on a journey the moment he was finally done with the Pokémon Academy his parents made him go to before they'd let him go. His parents were great like that.

"I know, I know, but it just wouldn't be the same without you with me. We'd even get to choose are starters together! Heck you even like exploring so it's not that different from what you do normally, and aren't you taking a walk at the edge of the Viridian Forest right now. Please dude, for me?" he begged.

"Andrew... I know that you've wanted this ever since you were young, but you know tha- " I stopped talking and froze in my tracks. I rubbed my eyes and looked again and saw the same thing, a leafeon bound in silk which almost certainly came from the caterpies crawling over it.

"Hey dude, what happened? Everything all right?" Andrew asked in concern after seeing my shocked face.

"I-i"ll call you back," I staggered, hanging up on him before he could say anything else to me.

The leafeon was looking right at me, tears in its eyes, I couldn't really see the rest of its face, probably because of the silk covering it. Its legs were bound in silk as well, connected to the ground and even a nearby tree. Even its tail and ears were bound.

I had already turned away.

I'm sure the leafeon would be fine, it was a pokémon and I'm sure it'd find a way out. It would be just fine.

Right?

I mean what could those caterpies do to it anyways, they're strictly herbivores so they wouldn't eat it, the leafeon probably had attacked them and they'd string shotted it in return. I mean it was a little strange they were crawling on it though, I mean its not like it had happened _that_ recently as I would've heard the battle and it's not like they could eat it so why were they there, unless...

I stopped dead in my tracks at the realization that the caterpie were eating the leafeon, or at least the plant parts of it. That would be an insanely painful and slow way to die.

I turned around and headed back to where I saw the leafeon and found stuck in the same situation, the only difference were its closed eyes. Looking closer I could see the bite marks and a bit of blood where the caterpie had bit, mainly on its tail, ears, and whatever leafy parts it had. Why the fuck did I think it was going to be fine!

What could I do though, I wasn't a trainer nor did I want to be one. I didn't have anything on me unless you counted my green shirt, blue jeans, and my Xtransceiver, _and_ it'd probably attack me the moment it was free. But even if it did attack me I just couldn't live with myself if I let this leafeon die in what was probably one lf the worst ways to go out.

Maybe run at them yelling to scare them away? No, they'd probably just string shot me the instant I did that. It'd have to be something so threatening to them they'd run the instant they heard it.

Wait, that's it! Andrew had me use my Xtransceiver to record pokemon cries to help him study for his final exam. And if I remember correctly one of them were one of the most scary pokemon around, especially to grass, bug, ice, and whatever else fire beat. Charizards.

After finding the recording of a charizard roar I set my Xtransceiver volume to max and after a little shudder, pressed play.

The effect it had on the caterpies, leafeon, and every pokémon in the area was immediate. The caterpie without even looking around scuttered away into the roots of trees and on them. The leafeons eyes shot wide open with panic. I heard a multitude of pokemon cries in the area, no doubt they were heading into any cover they could find.

Seeing that the caterpies had left I headed over to the leafeon. It was struggling against its bonds now but it only seemed like it was making it worse. "Hey, stop struggling, I'm going to get you out of here," I whispered.

It looked at me with disbelief in its eyes. I don't blame it, after all I had just walked away from it minutes earlier only to come back now. Reaching for the silk on it I was about to try and pull it off the leafeon until I realized that if I did that I'd probably just get my hand stuck as there was a lot of silk on it.

What could I do then, it's not like I had a knife on me. Then it hit me, the places where the silk was connected to the tree were much thinner than on it and I could just dig up the silk attatched the the ground. Though that did still leave it with the problem of all the silk on it just getting stuck to more things unless I... carried it.

Taking in a deep breath and doing my best to stop my shaking, I slowly started digging up the the closest silk and once I was done I got it wrapped around my left wrist, not enough to keep my left hand from moving but I could already feel how much harder it was to move it.

This process continued for a few minutes, dig up the dirt with my right hand(should've wrapped the first one around something else), get it stuck on my upper body, repeat. By the time I was done my left arm was covered in the stuff and I could barely move it anymore. And the whole time the leafeon was staring at me in shock that I was doing this for it and a few muffled noises came from it.

Finally finished with the all the silk on the ground, I carefully made my way to the last piece of silk as any movement too far pulled the leafeon and I did not want any more silk getting on the ground. Looking at the silk on the tree I pondered how I could get it off since it's not like I could just remove the bark. After some thinking I realized that since this was last strand of silk I could just pick up the leafeon and then move into it to try and dislodge.

I picked up the leafeon, making sure that I didn't get its nose in a place where it couldn't breathe any more. Afterwards I moved shoulderfirst into the silk attatched to the tree and after a lot of pushing it came off the tree and onto my shoulder.

Shaking I started heading back to Viridian City with a fidgeting leafeon, I mean even if this leafeon wanted to hurt me it was too bound up to do it, right? And even if I wanted to put the leafeon down I couldn't. We were stuck with each other, for better or for worse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the long wait for the chapter but here it is only *checks time the last chapter was posted* wow, an entire month after the last one. I'll try and be quicker about updates next time but until then, enjoy!**

It had been a few minutes since I picked up the leafeon and it had been quite peaceful, no doubt because of the "Charizard" in the area. The leafeon was fidgeting a lot less too and I could see the trees were starting to clear up. I was even starting to actually manage to relax and keep my mind off the vision where the leafeon suddenly manages to free itself and attacks me and instead appreciate the beauty of the forest once more.

The midsummer sun was shining down upon the forest creating a twisting weave of light and shadow. Where the trees parted you could see a bright blue sky and some dark grey clouds signaling that rain would almost certainly be coming soon. The beauty of nature is a wonderful thing.

Suddenly I felt the leafeon struggling, as I looked down it was looking at a nearby pond, it was probably thirsty. I thought about stopping and letting it have a drink for a moment but decided against it since I really didn't want to be here when the more aggressive pokémon came out of hiding.

Though I do have to wonder how would the leafeon even be able drink some water in the first place, after all its mouth was bound in enough silk to keep it from opening. A few moments later the leafeon stopped its fidgeting and made what seemed ike a muffled sigh as its head faced forward once more.

The trees were starting to get thinner and thinner as I walked on, a sure sign that we were almost out of the forest. From than on it'd be about a half hours walk back to Viridian to reach its Pokémon Center and get free of the leafeon. It wa-

 _BEEP BEEP!_

As my thoughs were interrupted the leafeon started moving its head frantically upon hearing the noise, trying to spot whatever was making it. I, however, knew exactly what the sound was and kept on walking, truely leaving the forest behind now and entering a grassy field with the main path marked by the barren dirt quite a distance to my right, Route 2.

It was the noise my Xtransciever made whenever somebody was calling me, albeit a _lot_ louder than normal. I would have tried to answer it or at least lower the volume if my arms weren't stuck to a leafeon. I was pretty certain too that it was Andrew who was calling me. I just hoped he didn't go too crazy that I didn't answer him.

The leafeon at this point had realized that it wasn't some predator but rather something on my wrist and had turned its head to look at me, as id asking me to turn it off. "Sorry," I said "I can't stop it off right now with my arms wrapped in so much silk."

I felt a little bad about that as it was painful for _me_ to hear, I could only imagine how bad it was for it. Thankfully it soon stopped and we were both able to relax, at least until a girl and her charmander right behind her came rushing from the path toward us. They must've heard my Xtransciever when it was going off. She was fair-skinned and had short brown hair with black eyes. She was wearing a black shirt with a Poké Ball emblem on it with steel blue pants and a pair of brown boots. She also had a backpack on her back and a belt with a lone Poké Ball on it.

"Hey there fellow trainer!" the girl shouted when she reached us "My name is Megan Belrose and I challenge you to a 1 on 1 pokémon battle!" Her charmander was right in between us now, growling just a few feet away. The leafeon was struggling like crazy now in a vain attempt to get out of its silky prison and I could hear what sounded like a muffled growl. I wasn't doing too much better myself, I had to fight the panic rising within me and could feel myself my heart beating like crazy now. It was a struggle to not just book it as fast as I could toward Viridian City.

"U-um y-you do realize t-that we're in no p-position to b-battle, r-right?" I said as calmly as I could. The girl and her charmander both did a double take as they looked closer at us. The girl gasped as she seemed to realize what was going on and her charmander stopped its growling, letting me and the leafeon relax a little. "Oh my Arceus, you're stuck to that uhh, wait, what pokémon is that?" At this she took out a small red device with a Poké Ball emblem on it, was that a Pokédex?

She flipped it open and pointed a camera on it right at the leafeom, definitely a Pokédex. Suddenly a male montone voice came from it saying "Leafeon, the verdant pokémon, leafeon are usually quite passive pokémon that live mainly in forests. They are omnivores but rarely hunt other pokémon due to their plant-like nature. They are able to perform photosynthesis as a result of this, they also make an abnormal ammount of clean air when they do this. They are one of the evolutions of the pokémon eevee. This leafeon is a female... more info can be provided once you get a better view."

"Wow, you managed to capture an eevee!?" she said in wonder "you mind telling me where you found her? How you captured her? How you eveolved her?" At this her charmander turned to face her and growled at her, as if offended. "Oh don't worry Blaze, an eevee wouldn't replace you, I just really would want one on my team!" She responded.

I decided then to correct her assumption that I was a trainer, I mean me, a trainer? That would never happen, I wasn't a big fan of battles in the first place not even mentioning my fear of pokémon, it took a lot of time for me to get used to any one pokémon species through exposure therapy, if any _one_ species of pokémon came too close too me that I wasn't used to _and_ was wild, I'd go crazy. The only reason I was able to go into the Viridian Forest is that since the pokémon there are common near Viridian City that my therapist had me get used to them.

"Umm, excuse me but I'm no-" was as far as I got before she interrupted me "Oh my Arceus here I am interrogating you on that leafeon of yours when you're still tied to that leafeon. Hey Blaze, help them out sith your ember and burn that silk up!" The charmander replied by turning to face me small embers already coming from its mouth.

With that one sentence the panic came back with a vengeance, stronger than before. "NO!, i-it's fine, I-i'll just h-head over t-to t-the Pokémon C-center in t-town, no n-need f-for d-drastic measures," I pleaded. The leafeon in my arms seemed to be in agreement about that, though probably more because i- I mean she was a grass type and didn't wanna get burned.

"You sure," she said, sounding puzzled I shut it down as quick as I did "it'd only take a moment for Blaze here to burn that silk away," at this Blaze nodded its head. "Y-yes I'm s-sure," I shakily replied. "Well in that case I'll join you back on the way to Viridian City, I wanna hear how you got that leafeon of yours, and where I can find an eevee. Come on!" she said heading in the direction of the path they came from with her charmander looking back at us one more time before joining her.

Calming down now that the charmander wasn't as close I followed her back onto the path. Just as we reached it she turned and was about to say something when

 _BEEP BEEP!_

The very loud high-pitched sound made us stop. "What's that noise!" Megan shouted. "It's my Xtransciever," I replied. "You mind turning it off," she asked. "I would but for some reason my arms can't move, can't figure out why," I snarked "Hey, you don't have to be an ass about it," she said annoyed as she came over to me, found it as one of the few spots not really covered in silk and silenced. "There, it's off," she said, right before a boy on a mach bike came to a speeding stop in front of us, having come when we were preoccupied with my Xtransciever.

He wore a cerulean solid shirt and Khaki shorts and had a white helmet on with skin of a more brownish color. There was only one person this could be.

Andrew.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the wait, Apparently when I say the next chapter will be out quicker I mean about 2 weeks slower. Thankfully at 4 in the morning my muse decided I shouldn't sleep but instead make this so here you guys go. Enjoy!**

Wide eyed, Andrew took off and placed his helmet on his bike and asked me "Kaylen, is that a leafeon stuck to you right now or am I going crazy?

Before I could respond Megan said "Yeah, there is a leafeon stuck to him..." than looking between us and gasped "wait, you two know each other?"

Andrew, losing his wide eyed look and in its place gaining a smile said "Yep, I've known him for a long time, though I've never seen you before." He quickly glanced at her charmander. "You from Pallet Town?"

"Yep! I was just on my way to the Viridian Forest when I ran into your friend here." She looked at me "Kaylen, right?"

"Yeah" I said as I looked down, noticing the leafeon was currently looking at Andrew. Before I could say anything else Andrew started talking again. "I suppose if he's already introduced himself I should too. I'm Andrew, what's your name?"

"Megan" she said as she extended her hand to him beaming "it's nice to meet you Andrew." He took her hand and shook it "Nice to meet you too Megan."

"Hey, I'm glad you two got to introduce yourselves but we should really get back to Viridian, and get to a Pokémon Center, so I can not be stuck to a leafeon anymore" I said irritably.

"Kaylen you don't have to be in such a rush right now you know, you don't even need a Pokémon Center to free yourself from that leafeon" Andrew responded.

I didn't like where this was going. Andrew was usually one to let me do things I didn't really know that well myself than laugh when I failed miserably and show me the actual way to do it, he was up to something.

"It's not just that, the leafeon has some injuries to her more plant like parts, like her ears" I told them "take a look."

I looked down at her after telling them and actually took a good look at the damage to her ears the caterpie caused. They chewed up really badly and her right ear was missing its tip entirely. Man if this was the damage _just_ to her ears how bad was the rest of it. If only I had acted quicker, hadn't walked away then come back, maybe than it wouldn't have been so bad.

The two of them had come up while I was looking at the leafeon who really didn't seem that comfortable with both of them inspecting her and was lightly growling.

Megan had a horrified look on her face while Andrew was a lot more reserved. "Oh my Arceus, what happened to her?" she asked looking up at me. "Hey, whatever happened you did what you could to stop it, don't blame yourself for what happened."

Was my face really that obvious? "She's right you know Kaylen" Andrew continued "though she doesn't need a Pokémon Center still, just a few potions where the damage is to prevent infection and she'll be set to recover."

"Really?!" me and Megan asked at nearly the same time.

"Yeah, grass types in general when stuff like this happens to them just need a safe place to stay and just need some time to regrow their plantae and they'll be good, if anything right now the damage to her ears and other plantae while painful are more akin to blisters than anything and will be stronger once they come back, she just won't be able to perform photosynthesis as well for a while and as a result need to eat more" he explained.

Man I know he went to the Pokémon Academy but he just knows that off the top of his head? Dang that place is good. Though I had never heard the term plantae before, maybe the general name for the plant parts on Pokémon?

"And you know this how?" Megan asked.

"I went to the Pokémon Academy" was his response.

Her suspicion immediately turned to wonder as she asked "Really! What was it like? How were the classes? Was it hard? Was it - oh sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself."

"It's fine, I know most trainers just go once they're able to so the questions are fine" he said.

"Wait, if you went to the Pokémon Academy than where are your Pokémon?" she demanded.

"I was actually going to head to Pallet Town in a few hours to get my starter pokémon from Professer Oak" He said as his smile widened.

"Wow, you're going to start your journey today with your friend here. Awesome!" she exclaimed, then paused. "Hey, if you guys are going on a journey together do you think I could join with you guys?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure, the more the merrier! Though let's ahead of ourselves and head over to my house so that Kaylen and _his_ leafeon can be freed and treated" he said. At that Andrew and Megan both started heading down the path where a charmander was waiting, tapping his foot.

So that's what he was trying to do, make me want to go on the journey now that I had a leafeon literally stuck to me. While I didn't really like it I'd give him one last shot to convince me. If anything this made it easiar for me to say no since Megan would be traveling with him almost certainly now.

"Hey, you coming slowpoke?" Andrew called out.

"Yeah" I yelled back as I started following them to Viridian City.

* * *

The journey to his home was different than usual, most people were staring at me and the leafeon, were they really that uncommon in Kanto or in general?

Surprisingly it hadn't rained yet by the time we reached Andrews home. It was light blue with a porch and had a breathtaking garden in the front where you could feel the sheer love his parents and their pokémon put into it. Megan, not seeing too much of a reason to stay went over to the Pokémon Center to wait.

"Hey Andrew, are your parents at their shop right now?" I asked as we walked through the fence gate Andrew was holding open. "Yeah, they'll be here later to see me off once I get my starter" he said as he closed the gate behind him.

The leafeon in my arms relaxed as we got closer to the garden, I guess she liked it.

"So Andrew, how are you going to free me?" I asked. "Simple" he said as he walked over to the... hose. "The stickiness of the silk can just be washed away with some water."

"You ready to be free?!" he yelled as he pointed the hose at us.

The leafeon perked up at this though looked confused, it probably hadn't ever seen a hose before.

"Yeah, I -" was all I got to say before be turned the valve on full power. I fell from all the water hitting me into a sitting position though I could feel the silk loosening. The leafeon not expecting this at all was flailing all about and had kicked off of me- wait kicked?

At this point Andrew had stopped the water and we were free. The leafeon was on the ground in front of struggling to stand a little after having her legs bound for so long and she barking and yipping in joy now that she was free and her mouth wasn't covered anymore.

Me on the other hand, all I could think about was that the leafeon was free, about 3 ft in front of me, and could hurt me. I could feel my breath already speeding up.

As she turned toward me I flinched and she seemed confused. I could feel my heart in my chest now.

She started slowly walking to me, I closed my eyes. I knew I was hyperventilating at this point, I could feel myself sweating.

I could hear her getting closer now, the grass folding under her paws, I froze the best I could, still shaking.

She was on me now, oh Arceus what have I done to die like this. Wait, what if I stay like this maybe she'll ignore me?!

She's on my chest now, she isn't stopping! Why did I think this was a good idea?!

Oh Arceus I can feel her breath now on my face! She's going to bite me, she's going t-

...

She just licked me, twice now.

I slowly opened my eyes. She was right in front of my face, she noticed me looking at her now and tilted her head a little, smiling and made a soft bark, as if to tell me everything was fine.

Her eyes looked full of life, her fur was glistening and her ears looked whole despite the damage.

I could feel my breath starting to slow, my heart as well.

She was amazing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Man it's been a while since I've last posted a chapter. I kept trying to write this chapter but I just could never figure out how I wanted to do it. At least until Oneshot. It's one of my favorite things of all time and really inspired me to write this. I hope you all enjoy!**

*WHOOSH*

As suddenly as the peace came, so too did it go.

The leafeon was forced off of me as a blast of cold water shot from the hose at her. I blinked in confusion as I turned my head to see Andrew rushing over to me, the hose still on and spraying into the air like a Water Spout.

"Oh Arceus, Kaylen" Andrew said as he kneeled by me "I completely forgot about your poképhobia, are you okay?"

"I-I'm okay" I affirmed. I looked over to where the leafeon had fled too, she was in a patch of pink and white tulips, shaking herself dry once more.

I felt my heart in my throat for a moment as she glanced at me with worried eyes before they hardened into a glare at Andrew. I felt the panic in me rise, but it was nowhere near as strong as it was before and I was easily able to ignore it.

"Hey Andrew, what happens now?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You forgot about my poképhobia, something you only do when you're really excited, or focused. And you know as well as I do that this leafeon isn't mine, and you aren't one to accidentally say something like that." I reasoned "You wanted me to go with you on your journey too and you hoped that somehow I could do it, despite my fear. I'm sorry, I know you really want me to but I can't." I felt terrible for saying that, but it needed to be said.

His eyes were a little teary and he was silent for a moment. "I... I knew you wouldn't go and even if you did you'd constantly be in fear of my pokémon, whatever they might be, but I couldn't bear the thought of leaving you here to go on my journey. I'd still go, even without you but... it just.."

I put my hand on his shoulder "I understand, and I forgive you." And I did, truly did. Just about all his friends would've left to go on their own journeys while he had to study at the Academy. It was why he was trying so hard for me to come with him, so he didn't have to leave me. Just like part of me wished he wouldn't leave, after all I didn't really know anybody else like I did him. If only I wasn't born afraid of pokémon, that was the only thing keeping me here in Viridian City.

He looked at me and was about to say something when he stopped, his gaze stuck on something by me. Confused, I took a look and right by me was the leafeon, her eyes staring at me with an unspoken question. 'Are you truly afraid?'

I smiled sadly and was even about to respond when my mind finally realized that she was right by me. The fear and panic came, but unlike any other time a pokémon came this close to me, even pokémon that my therapist, Dr. Phil, had specifically helped me with it didn't keep growing. Instead it just stopped, becoming only a small sense of uneasiness.

I slowly reached my hand out toward her in disbelief. As soon as my hand cupped her face her eyes lit up as if they were the very sun itself and she leaned into me, barking happily.

"Are you sure you're afraid of her? Because to me it seems as if you aren't." I didn't look over at him but his voice was filled with a powerful hope that wasn't there before, that somehow, someway I might actually join him.

"I-I don't know anymore."

*pitter-patter*

I looked up as a few drops of water hit my already soaked clothes and saw dark grey clouds above us, with no hint the sun was in the sky anymore. Of course it was now that the clouds decided to rain, and it was intensifying rather quickly.

"Hey, come on inside you two before you guys get soaked, again." Andrew suggested from inside the house. Apparently he had the foresight to get into the house the moment he felt the rain.

I quickly got up and was in the house when I looked back and saw that the leafeon had for whatever reason stopped at the porch and was looking at the doorway with an apprehensive look on her face.

Seeing this I walked over to her and asked "You don't want to come inside?" She nodded her head slowly.

I sat down next to her facing the rain and she did the same, and I rested my hand on her back. I was still baffled that for whatever reason my poképhobia had just... stopped.

"Hey!" Andrew called out "Are you two just going to stay in the porch?"

"Yeah." I responded "She doesn't want to come inside."

"Well at least let me treat her wounds." he said as he came through the doorway, a potion in his hand "Make sure they don't get infected." He crouched down by the leafeon when she did something neither of us expected. She jumped up and scrambled behind me, growling at Andrew while she was at it.

"Or maybe I won't." he remarked

Confused I asked her why she did what she did only for her to bark loudly at Andrew. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn't afraid of the potion, she was afraid of Andrew.

"Hey, what if I apply the potion, would you be okay with it then?"

She nodded her head, still glaring at Andrew.

"Man, I know I sprayed her with the hose but damn, I never expected that kind of reaction." he said while handing me the potion. "I'll tell you how to apply it since she apparently hates me."

* * *

After around ten minutes I had finally sprayed everywhere where the caterpies had bitten her. Andrew had gone back into the house once I started getting the hang of it, saying he needed to make sure everything was ready for when he had to go to Professor Oak. I decided to stay with the leafeon.

I was surprised though by how easily she accepted it once I was the one doing it. Whenever I had sprayed one place she didn't even wince and just showed me where she had been bitten next, like someone had done this often to her.

It made me wonder, did she have a trainer before and just decided to runaway? No, she couldn't have been. When Megan scanned her with a Pokédex it made no mention of her belonging to anyone. I also thought about why she was so apprehensive at entering the house in first place if she didn't have a trainer? Truly a mystery, one where I'd likely never find the truth. Another thing...

"Do you have a name?" I asked

She turned her head away from the rain that was finally slowing and after a few moments shook her head.

"Do you want one?"

Her face scrunched up in thought at that one, though eventually she nodded her head.

What would fit her I wondered. Ivy? no, too generic. Leaf? no, that was literally just the first part of her species name. It took me a while before it finally hit me while watching the rain slowly lessen to only a drizzle.

"How about Rain?"

At this she tilted her head.

"It just sounds... right, like it fits you." I explained

She thought about it for a few moments and I thought she was going to reject it when she smiled and yipped her approval.

"Rain it is then. It's great to meet you." I said smiling. She nuzzled me as if to greet me back.


End file.
